Astray
by Sweeney7760
Summary: "Robbie Shapiro thought that he and Cat Valentine would last forever... but forever was a figment and he was pathetically naive" Cabbie with a twist. R&R.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

To this day it still baffled him, no matter how many times it crossed his mind. Every single time he would try to make sense of the situation because even now he didn't understand it... and he doubted he ever would.

It all began at the age of fifteen, when Robbie Shapiro had achieved what others would have thought impossible, hell, even what he thought was impossible. He had convinced one of the most beautiful girls in school to go on a date with him. He wasn't completely sure how it had come about, or how he had even gotten the words out as he stood in front of her, his hands shaking wildly at his side the entire time.

Cat Valentine exuded warmth that shined through even on the bleakest of days. She was so optimistic, so talented and pretty that Robbie was convinced she would never have the time for someone like him. But once again, he had underestimated her to such a great extent. For on one fateful day fate seemed to be on his side, because Cat Valentine was assigned as his lab partner. He was surprised when she didn't frowned at him like other girls would have at this order, instead she smiled warmly at him as she perched herself on the stool beside him. It happened so quickly, before he could even comprehend what in the hell he was going to say to one of the most popular girls in the school… she was off like lightning, ranting and raving about everything and anything that popped into her head.

Their relationship only strengthened from there, they became friends and magically, it developed into more. From that moment on they were inseparable; one of those kind of couples that make others uncomfortable because their love for each ran so deep that it almost consumed them. They were blissfully happy together, they were reckless together, but somehow it was a perfect balance that was required for a relationship to last, and as far as he thought, he imagined that this was something that would last forever, because she was his first love… and first loves are forever.

But forever is a figment and he was horribly naive to believe it.

He remembered that day so vividly, it was two days before her sixteenth birthday. Out of the blue, Caterina Valentine vanished from Los Angeles. Her Nonna woke up one morning to an empty bedroom and a letter that read only two words, "I'm sorry". Everyone was shocked, the students of Hollywood Arts practically crumbled without their favourite eccentric redhead. But this crippling news hit no one harder than Robbie, who in no way thought she would ever leave him without say goodbye, without a single reason or indication that she was unhappy with her life here, with her life with him.

He was irrational for weeks, surly, sour and snarky to everyone who tried to comfort him, basically to anyone who wanted to know the whole story about her disappearance. That particular question annoyed him more than anything, because he himself didn't know the entire reason for her absence. As she was a minor they sent out search parties, the police where contacted, a mad search for Cat Valentine was launched… only to be later closed six months later when they couldn't trace her. But that didn't surprise Robbie, because Cat Valentine was mischievous and an excellent actress, which seemed like the perfect mixture for someone who wanted to vanish.

That was sixteen years ago, Robbie Shapiro had spent sixteen years of his life trying to put his first love behind him. But not a day went by that Robbie didn't wonder about her, on the odd occasion he would still ring her old number of her sixteen year old disconnected phone in the hope that she would pick up. So many questioned still lingered in the air like a storm cloud; did she get the life that she wanted, did she achieve all of the dreams that they had spoken of when they were only children? Did she ever move on from him, did she find true love? The kind of love that Robbie was clearly not able to show her.

But more importantly; he wanted to know why she left all those years ago.

So many times he had thought about chasing after her, about starting his own investigation. After he graduated from business school he had considered it, but he put it off due to financial issues. Then when he reached 25, he was a successful manager to some of the greatest rising stars of all time. Now he was making more money than he knew what to do with, and yet he still couldn't find the courage to search for her, because why had she left with no indication of where she was going, it was something that he had never wanted to admit but now had to accept.

Cat Valentine did not want to be found.

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Robbie was now thirty-two, however he still recognisable from his high school pictures. His messy main of curls was now slightly more tamed but still rather prominent, his eyes still adorned with glasses, only these ones where apparently more stylish. He had grown into his body, he wasn't as frail as he used to be, he would even go as far to say that he was physically fit… and he was attractive, which to this day came as a shock to him.

For the past ten years he had attempted to put the past behind him, to move on with his life, to find someone new, because he had too if he was ever going to enjoy the life that he had now. So every morning when he woke up, he would face the reality that she wasn't coming back and rise from the bed to force himself to consume enough coffee to survive the gruelling day ahead of him.

He rarely thought of her anymore, only on the days that where significant, such as their anniversary or her birthday but he never mentioned it to anyone else. He no longer had a connection to Cat Valentine, she was a part of his past and not his future.

His phone began to vibrate frantically, and he groaned as he saw the caller ID. Bringing the phone to his ear he sighed as before greeting his early caller.

"Hello Tori." He said gruffly before taking a sip of his coffee, "What is wrong today?"

"Can't I say happy birthday to my favourite manager!" she said brightly.

"I am your only manager." He reminded her as he stared out of the window that looked over his rather excessive garden.

"Which instantly makes you my favourite!" she reminded him, "So what have we got on today boss?"

He sighed as he walked from his kitchen into his home office, "I think all we have on today is the studio but I need—"

His sentence fell short, completely distracted by what he had just seen.

"Tori, I'll need to call you back."

Before he could offer an explanation he had slammed the phone down and was rushing out his front door. He knew this was irrational, that he had finally lost it, because it certainly could not be who he thought it was. But he hadn't imagined it, there was a girl sprinting across his garden, her head darting back every so often, to see how close he was from catching her. Her downfall came when she reached the gate and didn't have enough time to reach the top, her bag slipped from her hand and splatted to the ground, the contents spilling all of the concrete.

She cursed loudly as she jumped back down to scramble them all together and by that time Robbie had reached her.

"Just what the hell do you think you are doing!" he demanded, his pulse racing and his head fuming, "How dare you break into my home!"

Still crouched down on the ground, her head bobbed up to look at him, and in that moment Robbie's head began to swirl, his heart dropped to into his stomach, the acid in it making it bubble and fizz in confusion. He knew those eyes; deep brown with speckles of caramel, with soft brown curls adorned her head, the colour of her natural hair.

Then he spotted it, he stamped his foot on it before the soft breeze captured it and stole it from him. He picked up the crumpled old photo while the girl stood frozen beside him, watching him curiously as he studied it.

"Where did you get this?" he murmured, his eyes fixed on the smiling couple in the photo, surprised at the boy in the photo that was… once him. That at one point in his life he had been that happy, that he had experienced a love like that before.

"It's you isn't it?" She said, answering her own question, "You're that boy in the photo."

"Well you didn't answer me." He said, trying to remain calm even though he thought he could throw up at any minute, "Where did you get this photo?"

She sighed heavily as she snatched it back, "I stole it from my parent's desk."

"Why would your parents have this?"

"Probably because they aren't my parents." She said; an undertone of disdain apparent in her voice.

It was all too much, it took him no time to process what she meant, although he still needed to hear the words come from her lips, "You can't be serious."

She smirked as she shoved the photo back into her bag, "I'm afraid so. Congratulations, I think you are my father."

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**I know I said I would never write again, Pshhhh I lied okay!**

**And yes I know, these stories are soooo overdone but I have always wanted to write one, so why the hell not! Did I get anyone, did anyone think for a second it was Cat though?**

**Please Read and Review and stick with it please!**

**Much love always!**

**Sweeney7760**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

He felt enclosed, uncomfortable in his own surroundings. They were scorching the back of his neck; those eerily familiar brown eyes followed him as he paced around his living room as he attempted to make sense of the truly tricky situation he had been thrust into. At this current moment in time, Robbie Shapiro was struggling to even glance at the petite girl who was perched somewhat awkwardly on the edge of his rather bulbous cream couch, instead he just continued to focus on anything but her whilst biting his thumb nail until it bled.

But when he did sneek a peek at her, he had to admit that she seemed… dishevelled. Her roots where showing signs of grease, her nails broken and chipped, even her simple outfit of leggings, a rt-shirt and a coat where ragged and dirty. He highly suspected that she had gone days without a proper meal, or a real place to stay.

He felt for her, he really did… But he shouldn't have to feel responsible for this girl. She was just a runaway who had landed on his plot claiming to be his long-lost child. He wanted more than anything to banish her, to tell to that she was a problem that he did not need in his life. Yet, as he glared down at her at the bottom of his driveway he couldn't find it in himself to do it and he knew the exact reason why.

Because he saw so much of Cat Valentine within her that it frightened him.

It wasn't even her appearance; the hair, the eyes… it was the way she handled herself. She was riddled with so many idiosyncrasies, like the way she would jiggle her leg in anticipation when she was seated or the way she kept placing an invisible flyaway behind her ear. Both of these traits where nervous habits that Cat had possessed the first time he had plucked up the courage to lean across and kiss her and from that moment on he noticed them in her constantly, from the first time she kissed him, to the moment she left him.

But more than anything; he realised how just how young she was. It was ridiculous of him to think that she could have been Cat; after all, she would be a grown woman now. While the girl in front of him, she couldn't possibly be more than fifteen years old. Which was only a year younger than Cat when she disappeared, and when she had disappeared, there was so many times he had imagined her in some other county. She must have felt so scared, alone and lost with no one to turn to, and he couldn't do this to this girl.

So the only option was clear. This child had to go back home to her family.

"Are you going to say anything?" she finally opened her mouth to speak, the question pouring out of her before she lost her sudden burst of courage, "You are wearing your carpet out you know."

"I don't even know where to begin." Robbie admitted, raking a hand through his hair as he continued to pace, "Who are you, how did you even get here?!"

She sighed heavily, her hands curling together as she leaned back in the chair, relaxing slightly, "My name is Maia and a week ago I- I found out that I wasn't who I thought I had been for 15 years of my life. It's my own fault really, I don't think they were ever planning on telling me either, why else would the truth have been locked away in a stupid drawer all this time?!"

She was becoming rather frantic, and Robbie would be lying if he said that he had a natural flare with children... or with hysterical teenage girls. It didn't feel right to go over and comfort her, he didn't know her, and even if she was blood she felt like a stranger. It was as if an invisible barrier was preventing from going within a 5 metre distance from her at all times, he just couldn't do it.

"Would you like a minute or-" He let the question linger, hoping to have a few seconds of relief so he might frantically call the police, or social services, or whoever deals with this kind of thing.

Rubbing her eyes on the cuffs of her grubby demin jacket, she shook her head and much to his disappointment, replied, "No. The sooner we get this over with the better."

So, with no other option, he placed himself at the end of the sofa, remaining a comfortable distance away from her and nodded, "Alright then, continue."

"Well, It's just - I always felt like there was something missing you know?" She flicked her hand at him dismissively when he shook his head, "It's hard to explain but it has always been there... When I would look at pictures of my mum and dad and children I didn't look a thing like them. But I tried to brush it off, I was just imagining it, some kids just don't look like their parent. But I couldn't shake it, when I asked my mum about my birth she would go all quiet and change the subject. It didn't make any sense until I heard them one night."

"They were fighting?" Robbie guessed, becoming more intrigued with this story, "I still don't understand how I come into this."

"I'm getting to it!" she bit back abruptly, "They were fighting about a letter, about how they should just destroy it before it got to me, how they know they made a promise to her that they would show it to me, but it was just a reminder of who I was… and who I really wasn't."

"Then you broke into the desk?" Robbie concluded.

She gave him an ever so slightly dip of her head, "One night when they where out at some stupid socialite banquet. I snuck in and busted the thing open."

For the first time, she smiled a quick perk up of her lips that made Robbie queasy. He saw it again, the likeness to Cat, and every time it hurt him like a knife to the chest. He looked away from her, instead focusing on one of his paintings as he asked.

"What did you find?"

"A letter, addressed to me… well I can only assume it was for me, the title was my precious valentine, well my birthday is on Valentine's day but still it was weird."

Robbie snorted at the irony, distracting her from her tall tale.

"Sorry." He apologised, "Go on."

"At first I thought it was going to be a confession, who she was, where I could find her… But it wasn't like that at all, it was a story."

"About?"

"A boy called Robbie Shapiro."

His heart flipped pointlessly, his mind suddenly buzzing with excitement. He must have given it away because she jumped up from the seat and pointed a triumphant finger at him, "I knew it!" she exclaimed, "I knew from the second I saw you that you where him! You know how easy you where to find on the internet, and the security in this place is horrendous!"

"So what if I am?!" he demanded, rising to meet her forceful glare, "What do you want me to do? I don't understand what I can give you that your parents couldn't!"

"Weren't you listening?" she spat back, "They are not my parents, you are! You and this girl!" She held the photo up again, "Whoever she is!"

He couldn't believe just how unfair this was, that Cat Valentine had been selfish enough, cruel enough to run away from him with a secret this huge and then to have the audacity to only tell this poor girl about him, somehow who had never been involved in the decision to put her into care, who until this very day… didn't even know that a little bit of him and Cat was still in existence, in the form of their child.

"Maia I am sorry to disappoint you." He lowered his voice, trying to keep himself as calm as possible because this was not her fault. He had to remember that she was just a child, who was just as lost as confused as he was, "But you have to go back to your family, you shouldn't be here, you're a minor for Christ sake! Do you know what kind of trouble you are going to find yourself in! I can take you, or order you a car if you would rather have that. But please understand that I can't help you."

"But you—"

"This is going to be hard for you to hear… But if you haven't already grasped this, I had no idea you existed. See that girl; I haven't seen her in fifteen years, so now I know as little about her as you do."

"I know." She replied, rolling her eyes as if it was the most obvious answer in the world, "That's why I came to you."

"Right this is getting ridiculous. I am sorry but you have to go. I am calling you a car." Striding past her he entered the foyer to grab his house phone, as he was dialling the number a small hand with chipped nail polish snatched it from him.

"No!" she was pleading with him, her eyes frantic, "This is the only chance I am going to get at this, because soon they will realise I'm gone and then I won't get to see you again and I just—I just want to know who I am. Please."

"I don't see how-"

"Please, this is my one request from you and after it's over we never have to see each other. I just can't live my life not knowing who she is." She bit her lip, trying to stop the tears from tumbling down her pale cheeks, "Please Mr. Shapiro, help me find this woman."

"I don't—I wouldn't even know where to begin…" he shook his head, "No Maia, I don't want to find her. I don't want to find her." He flicked his hand at her, "Just get out, if you won't accept my offer of help find your own way home."

Spinning on his heel he turned and walk away from her, to clarify that this conversation was over, and as far as he was concerned, like the disappearance of Cat Valentine, he would try to forget about this encounter.

"She spoke so highly of you!" she shouted at him, her voice mocking and acidic, "He was so kind, so generous and loving, he would go out of his way to protect or help anyone and I know, I believe it in my heart that once you read this letter and find him that everything will make sense, the time will be right them for him to meet you and accept you."

Her voice was cracking, her voice lower and rising wildly as she tried to stop sobbing, "Who knew my mother could be such a two-faced, lying bitch."

He slamming of the door echoed around the room, the loud bang made the room shake and his heart race even faster, if that was possible. He hated himself in that moment, how tactlessly and reckless he was with that girl's emotions when all she wanted to know was who she really was, that and nothing else, she didn't ask for money that she knew he had, just answers… But those were answers he didn't have… but still to this day craved.

"I'm out of my mind." He muttered as he rushed out towards the door and flung it open, and for the second time today.

He chased after this girl, ready to help her find what she was searching for because he had to face facts, she was willing to do after only one week of knowledge what he couldn't do in fifteen years.

They were going to find Cat Valentine.

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**Heyyyy Everybodyy!**

**How are we all today, feeling healthy, feeling loved? Well if you aren't I hope this chapter cheered you up! **

**Gonna rant a wee bit here, but I love stories like this with loads of twists sooo I hope you enjoy what I am doing with it even if you have read a story like this before! Fun fact though when I thought of this agesss ago it was going to be a sequel to "Perfectly Imperfect" with the child being called Tess, like a reincarnation of sorts :P**

**But I felt like Cat's character had developed to much by the end of that to have her run away like the Cat in this story did so sadly I had to scrap it!**

**Anyway, Review, Follow, Favourite, you all know the jazz by now! Lovely long reviews if you don't mind ;) BTW I will incorporate all of the victorious stars they are going to help piece together the puzzle!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Falling in love with Cat Valentine was one of the simplest occurrences that he had ever encountered in his life. It did not feel rapid, nor did it feel like after months of waiting until he had this sudden revelation of affection towards her. It was what everyone could possibly want out of a romance; not awkward or trying, with one being left in the lurch while the other remained ignorant. It was perfectly natural, like an instinct. As thoughtless as waking up in the morning, you don't remember telling yourself to wake up, your body just acts accordingly to your needs. No, for the young couple falling in love was the easy part.

It was forgetting about her that was difficult.

It was one of the many reasons he enjoyed falling asleep so much, especially at the beginning of her absence. It was because he would spend all day going over it in his mind, trying to figure out what he could have done to stop it, blaming himself for not noticing that she was unhappy. He would feel endless pain all day, stabbing and prodding him at every given opportunity, until his head finally collided with his pillow. Eventually, sleep would always claim his emotionally drained body. Sleep was a much needed break from reality; precious hours where you are allowed to forget your problem. It was soothing, cathartic even… until the moment when the sun would surge through the crack in his curtains, and force him to open his eyes.

Then it would sink back in, remembrance would crash over him like a wave and with it came the crippling sadness that Cat Valentine had vanished without a trace. That she had left him all, that she wasn't coming back.

It happened again the next morning when woke up from a fitful and restless slumber. Except it for the first time in what felt like an entire lifetime, it wasn't just about Cat Valentine. Instead he thought of the girl in the room two doors down from him. A lonely, lost girl who he had, against his better judgement, allowed her to reside in his house for the night.

Still as he lay in his bed, rubbing his eyes to stop them from glazing over, he wondered if he was right in his decision to allow Maia to stay with him. He was certain that he was breaking some kind of law. But he just couldn't help himself. In that moment, when he heard the crushing blow of the door being slammed, he knew what he was walking away from.

There was someone else in this world, someone who craved knowledge into the life of Cat Valentine just as much as he did. He could no longer do this, he couldn't drag himself through his life with his heart still rested with her, when she was still engraved on it. There was only one way she could be exonerated from his life; he needed the clarity that Maia desired. He had to find her… if only it was to let her go.

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"You aren't serious?!"

He had expected that response; actually in his head he had imagined that it would have been slightly more vulgar given the shock of his confession. But no, instead Tori Vega's natural response was to clap her perfectly polished and primped hand to her mouth as Robbie quickly shushed her, and guided her into his office.

"Will you keep your voice down!" Robbie hissed, "I sent her up to one of the guest rooms to shower and rest, but god only knows if she kept her promise. I haven't been able to pluck up the courage to go and check."

Shaking her head in disbelief, Tori plopped herself down on one of plush leather chairs opposite the desk, her bag slamming to the ground as she did so.

"This is just—so heavy Robbie! I mean, wow just think about it!" she exclaimed, unable to contain herself, "For fifteen years she has been on this earth, while you remained her in LA completely oblivious!"

With a deep sigh, Robbie took a seat in his desk chair, "It explains so much though, doesn't it? Why she left so abruptly and gave no reason. Cat was hiding… her."

"But still, why didn't she feel like she could come to us instead of just abandoning us." Tori questioned, her head darting back to the door quickly before asking, "What are you going to do about her?"

"Maia?" Robbie groaned slightly, remembering the promise he had made her once again, "Well she has to go home… eventually."

Tori scrunched her eyebrows together in confusion, "What do you mean by eventually, Robbie… this girl has to go home to her parents. If they wanted you to be in her life they would have told you about her years ago instead of her just landing at your door uninvited."

Robbie found himself shaking his head at her, his hands clasped tightly together on his desk in an attempt to channel all of his tension into this one area, "Tori she wants to find Cat and I know- you don't even need to say it. That this is completely irrational, crazy and I must be on copious amounts of drugs to even consider something as ludicrous as this. But I want to do this. I want to find her. It's something I have wanted to do for years; I just needed a little incentitive."

"But that could take weeks or maybe even months Robbie!" Tori said, trying to coerce him to change his mind, "Her parents will send out a search party for her, they could make you out to be a kidnapper or a pervert! You are an important person Robbie, you have to think about your image. This will destroy your career!"

"Which is why I need your help. This has to be completed as quickly as possible with only the essential people knowing the details." He murmured softly his eyes flicking to the closed door anxiously, "I need you to tell me Tori. I won't be mad, I just want you to be honest with me. Did Cat ever try to contact you after she disappeared?"

Tori just stared vacantly at him, her lip twitching ever so slightly as the intense lock of eyes carried on, "I- Robbie don't be ridiculous!"

Robbie exhaled heavily as he rose from his chair, "You've never been a good liar Tori."

"It wasn't fair." Tori whispered, shuffling uncomfortably in her chair, "I couldn't tell you because it wasn't fair."

"What do you mean?!" his voice becoming heated, "How was it fair to keep me in the dark."

"I did it to protect you." Tori murmured, "Sometimes it's like you forget Robbie, I see it sometimes when you speak about her. That glint in your eyes, the softness of your voice when you say her name. You love her even now."

He shook his head feverishly, "Don't be preposterous. I don't love her! I just want the closure she never gave me. Then I can move on!"

"She broke you." Tori screamed, hot tears springing in her brown eyes as she jabbed her long, bony forefinger at him, "Think about what it was like for me, or Andre and Beck, even Jade for Christ's sake! We were the ones who had to help you get through it, the ones who never left your side. We did everything to allow you the time to forget about her… and just when it seemed like you hadn't given up completely, when you had graduated from college and you had a girlfriend, then she shows up on my doorstep!"

"She was in LA." He muttered, her vicious confession shaking him to the core.

Tori nodded as she roughly wiped the rogue tears from her pink cheeks, "I couldn't believe it. It was just after my first single had made it into the charts. All of a sudden she was just at my there… she looked so, I don't know on edge or something. I allowed her in, demanded to know where she had been for the past six years. She wouldn't give me a start answer. All she did was mumble about wanting to travel while she still and the time." Tori sniffed loudly as she grabbed a tissue from the box on his desk, "I was angry Robbie and she asked me for money. No explanation, no apologises. All she wanted from me was money. She promised that one day she would pay it back. That eventually we would understand why she had to run."

"So you gave it to her." Robbie concluded.

"I thought it was for the best." Tori argued, "I was so angry at her, so spiteful for what she had done to us all. But especially to you. I was afraid she would go to you if I didn't pay her and I couldn't see you go through the pain of her leaving again because she _wasn't_ going to stay Robbie, you have to believe me on that. So I paid her, with the condition that she never came back."

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He had to take a seat once more, suddenly drained of all the vigour he once possessed. It only made matters worse when the door suddenly swung open and Maia charged into the room, her eyes fixed on Tori who was staring at her in awe.

"Maia." Robbie placated, "Wait outside, this doesn't concern you. It's a business meeting, Tori is a client of mine."

"Oh please!" she spat back as she continued to glare at Tori, "Cat came back here and you paid her to leave. What kind of friend does that?! She needed help!"

"What kind of friend leaves in the first place?" Tori retaliated, "Plus I did help her, I gave her what she wanted. Anyway how is this your business?!"

"She is my mother!" Maia, "She might not even be lost if you hadn't of convinced her to leave!"

"In case you haven't noticed, I mean Jesus Christ Maia you are a prime example!" Tori growled protectively, "That Cat Valentine was not one for sticking around."

At that exact moment, Robbie wished that he had of stopped the argument from escalating the moment it began. He should have just grabbed Tori and pulled her out of the room. It was horrible. As soon as Tori's harsh words escaped her lips they could never be taken back. He knew that she regretted them as her hand flew to her face as if the sudden movement could scoop her words back into her mouth. But the damage had been done.

Maia's bottom lip quivered as she took a step away from Tori, "You bitch."

Tori stammered, suddenly lost for words, "Maia I— you just remind me so much of her- I just…"

"Safe it!" Maia screeched as she rushed out of the room, her voice cracking horrible as her sobs echoed around the empty estate.

"Maia wait!" Robbie shouted after her, but made no move to chase after her. He still felt somewhat reserved towards her, it was still too much.

But that still did not excuse his best friend's behaviour, "That was completely uncalled for. For God's sake Tori you are supposed to be the adult! As if she hasn't been through enough in the past week without you reminding her that Cat walked away from her."

"I'm sorry Robbie." She mumbled as she leant down to snatch her bag off the floor, "I regret lashing out at Maia, I wish I could take that back. But I don't regret giving Cat the money. I would do it again in a heart-beat if it meant she stayed away from you. You deserve so much better."

"I know that you are right." Robbie told her, "I do deserve better than this. I was the one who held on to something that Cat had let go of so long ago. So time after time I am the one who gets hurt. I doubt she even thinks of me anymore, I am just a distance memory. Tori I am aging physically and mentally… but in my heart I feel like I am stuck at 15. It's never going to go away, it's never going to change until I find her. I need to move on and you need to support that."

"Phoenix." Tori murmured.

"I'm sorry." Robbie asked, confused.

"That night, when I gave her the money, she said something about how they wouldn't find her in Phoenix."

"Who are "they"?" Robbie question, his heartbeat quickening, "Do you think she was in danger?"

"I don't know." Tori shrugged, "Maybe. But she could have been talking about you and Maia. Cat was always a little loopy, she rarely ever made sense… But Robbie please, just promise me you won't get your hopes up, this was years ago. She could be long gone."

But Robbie had already zoned out by this stage, he had already flipped up his laptop and was scanning the internet, searching vivaciously for a link, something that connected Cat Valentine to Phoenix.

"Cat's mother's maiden name!" he exclaimed excitedly, "Do you remember it?"

"Sure it was her Nona's." Tori said bemusedly, "Jameson, something that began with a "J" anyway? Maybe Jenkins?"

"They came from Phoenix. She must have family there." Robbie explained as he tapped on the keyboard furiously, "She spoke about them one time. How they would visit at Christmas and they are really reserved and boring… God what was their first name!"

"Ian and Emily Jenkins!" Tori exclaimed, "Yes they have those freaky twin boys remember! They just sit and stare at you."

"Maia!" Robbie voice boomed around the room, "Get your things. We are leaving in 20 minutes!"

Tori shook her head, "Wait you could just call them, Robbie you can't be serious. Take Maia home."

"If we call and she is there she has time to run." Robbie explained, "I'm doing this Tori. I am going to Phoenix and I am taking Maia with me."

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**Hey Guys.**

**What is up, how is everyone! Hope you are all well and surviving test period! Don't let the stress get to you. **

**But anyway I hope you like this chapter, I'll probably go back and revamp it eventually but I just wanted to get it out there because I really need to start revising!**

**Anyway read and leave me a wee review!**

**Much love as always**

**Sweeney7760**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

He thought of it fondly. It was one of his most precious memories. The time when the young couple had found themselves trapped in a sudden downpour of rain. One second the sun was beating down on them as they walked home from what Robbie had perceived as a very successful date. To this day he could still envision how quickly her red hair grew dark and matted as the rain splatted her whole body. How her clothes clung to her curves as they absorbed the continuous bullets of water that attacked her body. Yet the rain didn't bother her, she laughed delightedly as she became more and more drenched. She had to leap into every puddle as they ran home through the park, slipping and sliding all over the waterlogged grass.

They were in stiches by the time they got back to her house. Cat deliciously teasing him as she dragged her hands through his hair, sniggering at how frizzy the rain had made his already disorderly hair. He had retaliated by mocking her smeared makeup as he used his thumb to try and wipe the blackness from her cheeks. Then all of a sudden the laughing desisted, replaced with Cat's lips on his. He was so nervous, his hand shaking uncontrollably as she dragged him down the hall and into her little bedroom. For once, she wasn't a bundle of energy. Cat was calm, reassuring and incredibly sweet. Constantly telling him how much she wanted this, how it was right and that she didn't feel pressured whatsoever.

They were young and Robbie cursed himself repeatedly for being so careless. They acted like two young teenagers controlled by their hormones. He realised now that they were too young for such an arrangement. They certainly did not think of the consequences of their actions, forgetting for a crucial moment the risks in being careless and lost in the moment.

The result of their carelessness was seated directly beside him, one of her skinny legs propped up on the leather seat as she stared vacantly out the window, headphones securely in place. Occasionally Robbie would catch a glimpse of her when he glanced at the side mirror of his black range rover as they plummeted down the freeway. The uncanniness of her appearance still spooked him; the hair length, the eyes, the skin… there was no way he could not believe that this was Cat's daughter.

"Stop staring at me." She muttered, "It's really creeping me out."

"Sorry." He apologised quickly, focusing on the road ahead of him, "It's just—"

"I know, I know." She responded sarcastically, "I look so much like Cat. It's just genetics Robbie."

"Yeah but still doesn't mean it isn't weird." He mumbled under his breath.

"Well I'm not her." She bit back, her voice tense, "She was all sunshine and rainbows before she disappeared right? Well, being nice has never really come easily to me. I'm more… reserved."

"Oh I noticed." Robbie replied.

"Look we don't have to talk if you don't want to." Maia assured him, "We can just sit in silence until we arrive in Phoenix."

"It's a long drive to Phoenix, on the road for a least four more hours." Robbie informed her, "You sure you want to sit in silence."

She scoffed loudly, "I'm from Portland Robbie. I spent hours on countless buses not talking to anyone to get to LA. I think I can survive four more hours."

"Portland?"

It was at that moment Robbie realised just how little he knew about this girl; where she lived, who her parents are, her interests- all he really knew was a name.

"Yeah Portland. It's not a bad place to live I suppose." She replied, "It's just- I wonder now about what my life could have been like if I lived someplace else."

"Hollywood would have stolen your soul." Robbie reassured her, "Portland was a better choice."

He frowned when he heard her sigh, grumbling something to herself as she shifted her body away from him. He wondered if she had wanted him to say something different. That she wanted to hear that if he had known about her. That she would have stayed in LA with him and Cat. But he couldn't say that to her, because she still didn't feel like she was his child. They had no connection, an inability to bond because of their emotional reservations towards each other. So he tried to stop sparking up a conversation with her, they sat in silence just as Maia had requested.

Until, they reached their destination.

"""""""""""""""""""""""""

Even from the outside of the house, you could tell that the Jenkins were a clean-cut, old-fashioned family. The exterior was freshly painted, the windows gleamed against the setting sun, and every single piece of grass was trimmed to perfection. Maia's sardonic whistle only confirmed it for him when he pulled up at the curb.

"Neat freaks." She muttered as unclipped her seatbelt.

But before she could even open the door, Robbie had leaned forward to grab her hands, "No. I think maybe it's for the best if you don't come with me. Or at least let them talk to me first."

Her laugh was bitter as she slumped back into her chair, "You have got to be freaking kidding me! We drive the whole way here without stopping and you won't even let me scope these people out, these people who I happen to be related to?"

"You have never met them." Robbie explained, "They will probably be more comfortable around me, maybe tell me more. Trust me on this, they are like you."

"Meaning?" she asked sourly.

He smiled as he opened his car door and jumped out, saying one word before he sealed her safely within the confinements of his car.

"Reserved."

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

The moment he stepped into the house, he knew he had made the right decision in making Maia wait in the car. They were exactly how he remembered them and it wasn't the lie he had told Maia, because they weren't reserved, especially when it came to their religious beliefs. It seemed that no mattered where he looked he was reminded of this. As he sat on the rigid chair, his hands cradling a cup of coffee, he found himself staring at one of the pictures on the wall that contained a bible quote.

_Let marriage be held in honour among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous._

Emily followed his eye line and smiled, "Just a healthy reminder. I put it up when the boys where in their teens."

Robbie laughed uncomfortably before taking a huge gulp of his coffee. It was possibly the worst passage she could have as a mantra.

"Well Mrs. Jenkins you probably have guessed why I am here. I was wondering if you have heard from Cat lately." Robbie said nervously, trying to ignore the slight narrowing of her eyes the moment that her name had been uttered.

She pressed her lips together before taking a dainty sip of her tea; it was so quick that Robbie doubted that a single drop of it had touched her tongue.

"You are referring to Caterina I take it?" she responded, her posture rigid, "Always use their given name Robert."

"So you have seen her?" Robbie continued, "Please, Mrs. Jenkins it is really important that I find her."

"Oh I know why it is so important that you find her Robert." She said, her words clipped, "I haven't seen Caterina in oh, it must be eight years by now."

"Why did she leave?" Robbie asked.

"Well it wasn't by choice if that is what you mean." She replied curtly before pointing at the picture, "Do you believe in that message Robert?"

She pointed to the bible passage, her lips a thin line as she glared at him; "It is God's word after all."

Robbie cleared his throat uncomfortably, "I'm not really sure what you mean."

"Oh but I think that you do. My husband bless his heart, was so distraught when she showed up on our doorstep. She was so young at the time, tears flowing from her eyes as she crumbled into his arms. We are good people Robert; Ian's mother had just passed away so Caterina had no home to go to. We had to take her in, all that she had left in this world. She was family and we did everything that we could to help her. But there is one thing I cannot and I will not tolerate Robert, and that is a liar."

"Mrs. Jenkins I-"

"I put up that picture the moment I made her leave this house. The moment she thought it would be acceptable to tell us the truth. The corruption she brought to us is unimaginable Robert, the shame, to think that my boys where only 15 when she told us. To think that you and her- when you were only children! To think that there was a child conceived, outside of marriage! A child who I am certain is in your car right now!"

"We didn't mean to-" Robbie pleaded, suddenly feeling like he was a student being berated by a teacher as he tried to justifying his actions, "We just-"

"I should not have been surprised." She said bitterly, "Caterina was always wild; she got away with too much. Her parents and then her grandmother where always too lenient on her, if she was raised the right way… if you were raised the right way, it would all be different."

"How dare you." Robbie mumbled; rage slowing brewing inside of him, "What gives you the right to talk of a human life like that! The only mistake that Cat made was trusting you to accept what had happened to her and help her cope and instead- you what? Threw her out of the house?"

"I had to." Emily retorted quickly, "She was an adult and I had my boys to think about, she was corruptive to be around."

Robbie smirked as he set down his coffee mug, "You really believe that when your boys where younger they never did that? The world is progressing quickly Mrs. Jenkins, people do not think like you do anymore. If anything they probably did it more because of the risk of being caught by their overly religious mother!"

"You are just as bad as her!" she squawked, her voice cracking, "This is exactly what I was trying to avoid. I never wanted her to stay, Ian convinced me because she was his niece. But I always saw her for what she was. She is a user Robert, afraid of commitment, flimsy and easy! A whore."

He had heard enough, his stomach churning viciously as he forced himself not to step out and throw himself on her. She was blinded by her belief to see how viciously she had acted towards her niece. Once again Cat was alone, without a plan and without a destination.

"Did she say anything about where she might head, anything that could led me to her?" Robbie asked somewhat forcefully, his patience running thin.

"I don't know, she never really made any friends while here!" she sneered, "Well ones that lasted more than a day. She did say she wanted to go to Canada, when she saved enough money she would go there."

He rose from his seat, without expressing a single once of gratitude for the information he had just received, walked calmly out of the house and down the path towards his car. But he couldn't control it, he had to realise this anger. He didn't regret reversing into her perfect white fence, didn't regret that his back wheels may have accidentally crushed her primped rose bush.

Maia stared at him, "What the hell Robbie!"

He didn't respond, instead he sped off as Emily Jenkins rushed out of her house to berate him. She could hear her screaming as the travelled out of the estate. Instead he laughed as he glanced at her in his rear view mirror.

"Dude what was that about!" Maia shouted, "What happened in there!"

"Are you hungry?" he asked abruptly as he pulled up at the first diner he saw, "C'mon let's get something to eat. I'll explain then."

She just gawked at him, a strange mix of awe and confusion as she unbuckled her belt and followed him willingly into the small diner.

"""""""""""""""""""""

Robbie picked at his food, his appetite not what it normally was. But he had stopped her solely for Maia, who was apparently starved if you took the way she was chowing down her burger into consideration.

"So" she began, her mouth still completely full of half chewed meat, "What did Miss stick-up-her-ass have to say for herself?"

Robbie shrugged, "Nothing useful."

She swallowed audibly before continuing, "Well she must have said something for you to go and destroy her front garden."

"She was worse than I remembered her." Robbie told her, "Much worse. So judgemental of others that she can't even see all of the monumental things that are wrong with her, she was so cruel to her. I just don't understand why everyone is lashing out at Cat, why everyone is trying to stop me from finding her. Going on and on about how she had sinned. God we were only children!"

"I knew that's why you didn't want me to come in with you." Maia admitted sadly, "Its okay, I can handle it. I know I wasn't exactly planned, message received."

He mentally cursed himself, "No Maia. I just wanted to save you the pain of having to hear someone talk about you like that because you deserve better. I don't want you to define yourself as someone who wasn't planned or a mistake. It's not fair to you, especially when you had no control over this."

Her lip quirked up slightly at the corner, "Well, you didn't either."

"You could argue that." Robbie said, "But then again you could argue that I had all of the control. Now we have nothing really to go on, I can't think of a single person Cat would go to in Canada."

Maia arched an eyebrow, "Canada? As in the place where your high school friend Beck Oliver is from, that Canada?"

"Of course!" Robbie exclaimed, "Beck had always said that when the time was right he would move back to Canada, and they did eventually. Jade moved with to Canada after they got married, if that's what it is then all we have to do is-"

He broke off, suddenly aware of how unrealistic this plan was. He couldn't just go to Canada. That was across the border and even if he did go on this ridiculous venture, he certainly could not bring Maia. She had no papers and more importantly, legally, was not his child.

But still he needed to know and wanted to see his old friends more than anything now. He had always been suspicious of Jade's relationship with Cat. Before they left LA she had jabbed him with insults about the girl in an attempt to rile him. He could handle it that was her coping mechanism, it always had been. Jade West had always made others feel bad to help her with manage her own pain and loss.

But there was one time that she, one occasion when Jade had been overly nice to Robbie. Up until this point he had thought nothing of it, put her mood down to the amount of alcohol she had consumed and the fact that she had just married her high school sweetheart. She was happy, ecstatic even, slurring about how all of her favourite people where all in the same room once more, excluding Tori Vega who was present… but not by her request.

"I'm such an idiot!" he cursed out loud as he slammed his fist on the table.

"What?" Maia question as she glanced around anxiously at the other customers, his outburst had caused a few of them to turn their heads in surprise.

"She was there- the whole freaking time she was there!" Robbie exclaimed.

She had broken her promise to Tori, she had returned to LA.

"Where?" Maia said, pouting in annoyance, "Why must you speak in riddles!"

"At their wedding." Robbie said as he dropped a twenty on the table, "Come on."

For the second time today, Maia scuffled behind Robbie as he rushed to his car, he phone placed by his ear as he waited for her to pick up the phone.

Eventually she picked up and once more, he heard her never-changing cool and callous voice, "Shapiro, to what do I owe the pleasure."

"You knew didn't you?"

There was a pause, a moment where all that could be heard was the softness of her breathing, the calmness of her form as she told him, "I think we should catch up."

"My house. Tomorrow." he said, more of a demand than a request.

"I can hardly wait."

Then the line went dead. He cursed loudly as he climbed back into the car. He felt as if he was going around in circles, because at the moment they literally were. Maia glanced anxiously at her, her nails digging into the side of the seat.

"Robbie please slow down!" she asked, "You're scaring me."

Instantly his foot came off the accelerator, "I just—I can't believe how stupid I was not to see it!"

"It wasn't your fault!" Maia argued, "Your friend should have told you, hell Cat should have told you. Stop beating yourself up! But you have to admit that on some level they are right. That what she did was wrong. They are angry because she won't admit it to herself"

"I know." He said, "I'm not lying to myself. But I saw a complete different side to Cat, a side that no one else got to experience. So I have to believe that there was a bigger reason to her running, because she isn't a bad person. I know in my heart that she isn't a bad person. Everyone has given up on her. But I don't think I ever will."

She nodded, tucking a piece of stray hair behind her ear before asking, "So what now?"

"Back to LA." He grunted, "Where you will have the pleasure of meeting Jade West."

* * *

**Two chapters in one day, Jeez I am in the worst stage of procrastination.**

**Anyway, I can kind of see this being a rather short story, but you know nothing is set in stone!**

**Hope you all enjoyed it and hate Cat's relatives as much as I do.**

**Next chapter will have Jade so look forward to it!**

**Much love!**

**xoxo**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

She was still a beauty, Robbie tried and failed to find a single flaw with her form. Her skin was still perfectly pale like cream that was soft to the touch. Her dark, plush lips smirking slightly the moment he opened the door to greet her. But what irked him most were her eyes. She still had intense azure eyes that glared at him the moment she removed her sunglasses. Her heels clipped confidently against the tiled floor as she strode past him without recognition, with that air of confidence she had always possessed. To the naked eye, Jade West could catch the attention of any male that took her fancy; even Robbie could admit that she was beautiful and her confidence made her that much more alluring.

But the phrase, "looks can be deceiving" was the perfect way to describe her… because her personality in no way matched her appearance. For lack of a better word, Jade West was a bitch. One of the most sadistic and sardonic people that Robbie had ever met; it was almost as if she craved the misery of others.

By the time he had followed her into the kitchen, she had already invaded his cupboards, a large glass of red wine was being choked with her viper grip. She ignored his entrance choosing instead to gaze out of the wall that was made entirely of glass.

"It's only one in the afternoon Jade." He said scornfully as he moved to snatch the wine from the counter before she sucked the whole bottle dry.

"Well it's eight in the evening somewhere." She replied dryly, "Besides it's the least you can do. I didn't want to come back here you know. I did it as a favour to you."

He scoffed indignantly, "So talk. Get it over with then. The sooner this is over the sooner you can leave and never come back."

She smiled darkly, "Don't be so testy Robbie. You act as if we aren't old friends."

"We aren't." he said, "You are nothing to me now, not after this."

"I don't understand why you think this was me being vindictive." Jade said calmly, "I only invited my oldest friend to my wedding and she came. Now what is so bad about that?"

He willed himself to keep his face neutral, unwilling to give her the satisfaction that her remark had gotten to him. They locked eyes as Jade walked towards the oak table and took a seat, carefully crossing one smooth leg over the other.

"Don't act coy." He said impatiently, "You know that I would have wanted to know more than anything. Do you have any idea how this makes me feel, to think that at some point during that night I could have been a mere foot away from her and not known! You have no consideration for others Jade."

She laughed knowingly, the glass resting delicately on her lips before she took a small sip, "That shouldn't come as a surprise to you."

"How did you even find her?" Robbie demanded, pulling a hand through his hair in annoyance, "Was she still in Phoenix?"

"Oh you mean with her bat-shit crazy Christian relations." She snorted, "Have you not figured it out by now. People talk Robbie, Tori told me about Cat coming back about a month after it happened. I pretended that I was indifferent. But as soon as she left I headed straight to Phoenix, found her working at some disgusting diner."

"How did she seem." Robbie asked quickly, "Was she pleased to see you?"

"Shocked more than anything." She recalled, "For a moment she was like the Cat I had always known. She almost dropped the plates she was carrying when she spotted me. She ran over, you know like a huge ball of energy."

"What's wrong with that?" Robbie asked, slightly irked, "She was obviously pleased to see you."

"You don't know Cat like I do." Jade reminded him, "I've known her since pre-school. She was and still is like a sister to me. Something was off about her, her energy was more nervous. She shook more; eyes darting around the room the entire time I was there. I asked why she left, she said it was complicated. I told she could trust me, that I wouldn't judge her."

"She told you about Maia." Robbie deduced, "You've known for years. Years and you never thought to tell me. It never crossed your mind that as her father I had the right to know."

She drained her glass, wincing slightly at the tartness of the wine, "Jesus when did you become so melodramatic. For once Shapiro, I was on your side. I told her to tell you. That's why I forced her to come to the wedding, whether she wanted to or not. It was her opportunity to make it up to you. Reluctantly she agreed, on the condition that she could go "under the radar" as she put it." She rolled her eyes, "I thought she was going to, it even looked like she was going to, at one point I could have sworn she was making a beeline towards you. Then she ran."

"She ran." Robbie said slowly, trying to make sense of it all, "From me?"

"Robbie I-" she was about to reply but something caught her attention, "Jesus, well if it isn't Lil' Red!"

Snapping her head around he found Maia lurking at the archway, her eyebrows scrunched in confusion as she squared up to Jade West, "I don't get it, is that supposed to be funny?" she asked uncertainly as she turned her head to find the answer off Robbie.

"Ignore it." He told her, "Maia this is Jade West."

"I guessed as much." Maia replied, "She given you an answer yet, does she know where Cat is."

"By now I'm sure you are bored as shit hearing it kid, but you look so much like her." Jade told her, "So you know, don't be offended if I don't really address you from now on."

"What happened then, after she left the wedding?" Maia urged as she took a seat opposite Jade West, determined not to be ignored, "Did you chase after her?"

"Yeah I jumped her." Jade said nonchalantly, "Pulled her into a coat cupboard. But there was no convincing her. She was erratic, ranting on about how she had to leave. That she couldn't do it, she couldn't stay. I tried Robbie, really, I did. But she I couldn't make her stay, she was practically hyperventilating at the thought."

"That's not good enough!" Maia said, "You should have slapped her, dragged her screaming and kicking back into that room if that's what it took. I'm with Robbie, this isn't fair to him."

Jade smirked, "Right little daddy's girl aren't you."

Maia's nostrils flared wildly, "With your heartless nature. I'm going to guess I'm not the only one in the room with daddy issues."

"Why you nasty—"

"Alright Jade!" Robbie step in, "Stop winding her up."

Jade arched one of her perfectly plucked eyebrows and smiled at the girl, "On the contrary Robbie, I like her. She's a fighter like her mother."

"Cat is no fighter." Maia said, "She didn't fight to keep me did she."

"Look kid. I'm telling you this because you need to hear it. When I found Cat she told me all about you, about how she gave birth to you on a bathroom floor, by herself, in what she described as one of the filthiest houses she had ever squatted in. The paramedics made it just after you were born. She was alone; she didn't have a penny to her name. She said you were perfect, her greatest achievement and that giving you away was one of the hardest decisions she ever had to make. But she did it because it was your best chance at a good life. Which was something that as much as she wanted to, she just couldn't give you."

It made tears spring in his eyes, which he wasn't remotely ashamed of. It was a horrible thought, to think of his Cat, his poor confused Cat as she went into labour on her own. How completely petrifying it must have been, the pain she must have experienced must have been unbearable. He turned away from the girl's to roughly wipe away the tears, allowing himself a moment to compose himself.

"By herself?" Maia whispered, "But there-"

It was at that minute her phone chirped, Robbie heard her softly swear under her breath before she answered the phone. She sniffed loudly, exhaling before she answered, attempting to sound as breezy as possible.

"Mom hi!" she said warmly, "How's Bora Bora?"

She excused herself from the room by mouthing "sorry" and rushing out. Jade whistled loudly as she rose from her chair, glass in hand to retrieve the hidden bottle of wine.

"Is that true Jade?" Robbie asked softly, "Was she on her own?"

She nodded, her face void of emotion, "Wouldn't have expected anything different."

"No Jade I can't do this anymore." Robbie said, "I can't. It doesn't make any sense. She could have stayed here, could have had her with me. We could have given her a good life! I wouldn't have deserted her!"

She shook her head, a single tear dripping from her eye, "Robbie, I think this runs much deeper than you and Maia. I think- I think Cat's in trouble."

"Trouble?" he said, panic rising in his voice, "What kind of trouble?"

"You were all she wanted to know about when I found her in Phoenix. Was Rex still around, did you make it as a magician, did you have a new girlfriend? She loved you. So much, it wasn't just puppy love or anything." Jade said, "It was real Robbie. She loved you like Beck used to love me."

"Used?"

She smiled sadly, "Divorce was finalized a year ago."

"Jade I-" Robbie stammered, unable to register the vulnerable Jade in front of him, "I'm sorry."

She put a hand up to stop him, "Don't feel sorry for me, it was my fault. We drifted, he was always on location for films and I was trying to start-up my music career. He was too good for me anyway. But this isn't about me. This is about this really bizarre family dynamic that is going on here."

"Did she ever go to Canada?" Robbie asked her, "She must have, she would have to see you."

"I haven't seen Cat since the wedding. I mean she calls from me from time to time, always from a pay phone though." Jade explained, "I don't think I can't help you Robbie."

"Did she ever mention where she was when she called?" Robbie implored anxiously, terrified that his trace of her was going to grow cold, "Anything Jade?"

"The last time she called was maybe a year ago? She was in Vegas." Jade said, her voice confident, "I mean- Beck has a flat there. Maybe she looked him up and found him?"

"Do you really think she was running from someone?" Robbie said unsurely, "It doesn't seem believable, everyone liked Cat. She had no enemies."

"Maybe I'm overreacting." Jade said with a flick of her wrist, "But it was just—she was fine at the wedding. She was happy, ready to tell you everything. Then all of a sudden she ran. When I caught up to her she was ranting about how it was a mistake. I know Cat, Robbie… and you are not the reason she left."

"Come with me." He said abruptly, the words falling out of his mouth before he had thought of their meaning; "Help me find her."

She laughed slightly, "Robbie that most idiotic thing I have heard. You must be losing it. A couple of minutes ago you never wanted to see me again and now you are asking me to join in on this crazy adventure. I am not going with you to Beck's apartment, I can't do it."

"But what if she is in trouble?" Robbie pleaded with her, "What if I find her and—." He stopped himself, unable to comprehend not seeing a happy and healthy Cat Valentine, "Please, I need someone else on this trip. There is no way Tori will go. She is too angry at Cat. But you love her, you said she was like a sister to you!"

"Well she is but-"

"Please Jade, take this trip with me! You don't have to come with me to Beck's, not if you don't want to. But I want you there for when I find Cat, if she is in trouble I need someone as terrifying as you to help me protect her." Robbie said, "Come with me."

She sighed heavily, "Alright fine."

"Seriously?" he said, "It was that easy."

"Don't make me regret this Shapiro." She replied sourly, "Let's do it. Make the plans. Let's go to Vegas."

* * *

**Hey everyone, sorry for any spelling errors or the fact that it is so rushed but I wanted to get it to yous before the end of the night!**

**Hope you are all well and you enjoy where this story is going!**

**Lots of love**

**Sweeney7760!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

If someone had told Robbie Shapiro that at the age of thirty-two he would be on a road-trip with his illegitimate love child and his high-school bully in search of his lost childhood love, he would have had them committed for even thinking that something that ludicrous could occur. His life seemed more like a soap opera than reality as he glanced back in his rear view mirror at Maia, who he still had trouble believing was real. She was curled up in a ball on the seat, her knees grazing her chin. Jade West on the other hand was rummaging through her bag beside him, he rolled his eyes as her search continued, bemused by the size of a women's handbags. Why did they need to be so large, so cumbersome and deep as a wormhole? Finally her hand emerged, wrapped around a small flask.

She grinned widely at the sight of it, before taking a swing, her eyes screwed shut as soon as the taste touched her tongue. Robbie pursed his lips together, but said nothing by her actions. After all; who was to judge someone else's life when his own was in tatters.

"It's too bad you are driving Shapiro." Jade murmured quietly, taking into consideration the slumbering teen in the back, "We could have had a party" she remarked, while shaking the flask in her hand.

"I'm not really that big of a drinker anyway." Robbie replied tautly his hands gripping the wheel tighter, "Besides I want to make to Vegas for the morning."

Jade shrugged before she took another gulp, the fumes of the alcohol wafting around the car, "Never heard of the term drown your sorrows have you Shapiro?"

"I know you are worried." Robbie told her, although he kept his eyes on the road to avoid her death glare, "But it will be fine. Beck will be glad to see you!"

"If you believe that Shapiro then you're a moron." Jade mumbled, her words ever so subtly were elongated and Robbie hoped, that much like a child, her bottle would send her straight to sleep.

"We'll the Beck I knew wasn't one for holding grudges." Robbie reassured her, "Plus you know; I'll be there if you need me."

"I don't need anyone." She muttered as her eyes fluttered shut, "I'm a lone wolf Robbie. As soon as this is over don't expect me to stick around."

"Wouldn't dream of it." He said softly under his breath, smiling softly as the black-haired demon shifted in her seat, her arm resting on the edge of the window. Soon enough her head dipped and her breathing evened, and Robbie was left alone with his own thoughts as they drove through the night.

Of course his mind instantly travelled to the section that was quarantined off for only Cat Valentine. He couldn't help but worry about Jade had eluded too yesterday, that Maia wasn't the only reason that she had fled from Hollywood. It seemed absurd; Cat Valentine was liked by every person she met. She was so innocent, so much like a child that it was hard not to warm to her care-free behaviour. In the time they had dated, Robbie could not think of one person that had ever been rude to Cat, aside from Jade West but that was a completely different matter.

But still, he thought of the last time he ever spoke to her. How he had tracked her down at school because she was avoiding his umpteenth amount of texts and calls that he had anxiously sent her from the night before. He remembered how he had spotted her from the top of the staircase, how he had shouted her name, which was reciprocated by a squeal. He knew what was next; she was going to run away; a string of, "no's" leaving her lips as she tried to escape. But he was faster than that, he didn't want her to get away… he didn't want her to leave him.

Now that he knew more of the situation, he understood why she looked different. For one thing, she was dishevelled, and that was one thing that Cat Valentine never was. The girl could go for a run and return looking primped and perfect. But the hair that she was pulling and twisting around her finger was limp and dirty; her face was free of makeup, highlighting the dark circles under her normally alive brown eyes.

She kicked her legs out when he had his arms locked around her, protesting as he forced her into the janitor's closet so they could speak privately. Of course this had grabbed the attention of the loitering students, who had come up with all sorts of reasons why the happiest couple in Hollywood Arts were having problems and were spreading them about the school before Robbie even had chance to close the door.

He demanded to know what was going on with her, that he could trust her and he would help her. Then she did something unexpected, she smiled and pulled him towards her. Then they were kissing, it was bizarre, but he didn't want to ruin the moment by questioning it. He assumed that it was just how Cat being who she was, sad one moment and then delirious the next. Then he remembered himself, it took a lot of restraint to pull himself away from the close embrace, his body instantly missing the softness of her touch.

She pouted at him, her eyebrows scrunching up adorably, "Why did you stop?"

He needed to know what was wrong with her and he now realised that she was on the verge of telling him. That she was overcome by his selflessness and love towards her. When he asked her what was wrong she was going to tell him, he remembered how her voice cracked when she tried to find the words. Then her phone bleeped and her eyes widened. But that moment of fear that crossed her face was gone in an instant, replaced with a smile as she leaned up and pressed her lips against his, her hand resting on his check.

"I love you" She told him, "You know that right?"

He nodded, "You too."

Then they emerged from the janitor's closest, hand in hand, much to the annoyance of the gossipers of the school. They sent around a retraction statement to the breakup rumour in an instance, reassuring everyone that the puppet master and the kid where still together.

Then that weekend, when Robbie was sure that they were going to make it, that Cat would tell him what was wrong and that he would do everything in his power to make it better, she decided that she couldn't do it.

Jade snapped awake the moment she felt the car swerve into the next pit stop. She grabbed the dashboard as Robbie slammed his foot on the brake, causing the car to jolt forward. He heard Maia groan from the back, followed by the unclipping of her seatbelt.

"Are we there?!" she questioned excitedly, "I thought it would be brighter, all glitz and glamour like in the films."

"We aren't there yet kid." Jade told her, "Shapiro is having one of his emotional spats."

"Come on." He grumbled, "I need to rest, I can drive anymore. We will have to wait until morning to talk to Beck anyway so we may as well get some sleep."

Maia scoffed, "What? Stay in this cheap motel, with you two! I don't think so!"

Jade grinned as she but her flask back in her bag and stepped out of the car, "Taking me up on my offer Shapiro?"

He ignored her, opening Maia's door, who was mumbling grumpily to herself, her arms folded defiantly. Robbie sighed, running a hand through his hair, something he couldn't help but do if he was stressed.

"Maia, get out of the car."

"No." she barked back, "I'm not going into that infested hole!"

"Yes you are." He retaliated, "I'm not leaving you out here for someone to steal you!"

"Don't you mean for someone else to steal her Shapiro?" Jade cut in devilishly, smiling to herself as she watched the pair bicker.

"Shut up West!" Robbie shouted, "Maia out of the car now or so help me I am bringing you home and no one gets to go to Vegas!"

With a scoff and a swear word he was certain was directed at him she reluctantly got out the car, complaining the whole way from the front office to their rooms. Robbie spotted the smirk that was permanently on Jade's face.

"What are you smiling at?" he asked snarkly.

She just continued to smile as she overlooked his question and handed a room key to Maia. Maia arched an eyebrow at it.

"I thought the room was for you?" she questioned, "You want me to stay alone."

Jade shrugged, "No it's for you. That's the only good thing about Shaprio. He has cash to blow."

Maia's lips tugged up slightly at the side, she glanced at Robbie, gave him a quick thank you before bidding Jade goodnight and slamming the door in their face. It was only then that Jade smiled deviously at him.

"Why'd you give away your room?" he asked.

Grabbing the key from him, "You want to know why I smiled earlier Shapiro?"

He followed her towards the door, "Go on then, I'll play."

The door clicked open, "The bickering between you and Maia. That was the first time I have seen you remotely act like a father to her."

"Hey Jade." He said as he followed her into the very basic room, "Is there anything left in that flask?"

"""""""""""""""""""""

It was something he thought he would never hear, it made him smile, it made him wonder how different things could have been in the past if they had of actually seen eye to eye. Jade West was doubled over, clutching her side as she laughed along with Robbie which was accompanied by a snort, which only made them laugh harder. With her hair tied back into a bun, in her sweats and a loose fitting t-shirt, Jade West had never looked more human.

"No no wait!" Jade said, her voice slurring slightly as she took a swig, "Nonna Jenkins almost caught you two doing the nasty!"

Robbie snickered before he swallowed more of the tart drink, at the time it wasn't funny but the more that he told Jade about it the more he realised that sometimes the worst situations, make for the best stories.

"It was awful!" He told her, "I had to jump out the window in my boxers while Cat scrambled to put her dress back on."

"Memorable first time." Jade noted, "She would have made you pay you know."

"Why do you think I tried to run and put my clothes on at the same time!" Robbie blurted out, laughing along with Jade at the image.

He wasn't a big drinker; he never really understood why someone would want to drink to the point of vomiting, until they made a fool out of themselves. But it was becoming slightly more obvious now. People used it as an escape from realism, it was cathartic. While it made him feel light-headed, there was an intense happiness that came with it that he hadn't experienced before. He certainly could not imagine laughing along with Jade West if drink hadn't of been involved after all.

They were sitting on the matted carpet; Jade's loot of alcohol between them as they leaned against the bed and half-watched the only channel on the television. Jade jeered while Robbie cheered when Tori appeared on their screen. They played a drinking game, having to drink every time Tori tried to look seductively at the camera… which turned out to be a very effective game.

"You know I told her!" Robbie tried to say as coherently as possible, "That she look ridiculous in this video!"

"What's up with the creepy dancer's behind her." Jade retorted, "She looks like an idiot."

"You never liked her did you?" Robbie said, as he flung his hand towards the TV, "She's a good person you know. I like her."

Jade took another swing of her drink, "She was a threat. She had to go."

"A threat?" Robbie blurted out, "To you?"

"Beck liked her. All those times he tried to get her to go out with him when we were on breaks." Jade's grip on her glass tightened, "It wasn't fair, I should have been enough."

Robbie sighed as he closed his eyes, immediately feeling like the room was spinning when he did so, "But you won in the end right."

There was a pause, a moment of silence when all that could be heard was Tori singing softly in the background and the sound of Jade swishing her drink and she drained the glass.

"Do you get lonely Robbie?"

Flicking his eyes open he looked over at Jade, surprised at what he saw. While the drink had made in inexplicably happy, it had made her vulnerable. It was possible that she didn't even realise that tears were tumbling down her cheeks, because she didn't wipe them away, she just stared at him, waiting for an answer. What he did surprised him, because he never thought she would allow it. Moving the bottles out of the way, he scooted over and pulled him into his arms.

She was stiff at first, reflex possibly telling her that she shouldn't allow herself to be in this situation. Then she started to weep, her body shaking with the sobs that she must have repressed for so long. It was then Robbie realised that maybe Jade and himself where not so different. They both had a fatal flaw, only he never guessed that it would have been the same thing.

"Why do we do it Robbie?" Jade said, her voice thick, "Why can't we let go. I watched you go through so much pain and I tried to ignore it. I tried to convince myself that there was no way loving someone could cause you so much pain. I feel so pathetic for feeling so weak and lost without him. I am better than this. I should have just stayed by myself, I am better by myself. No one can hurt you."

But Robbie didn't have the answer to that; simply put; people seek love because they love the feeling of being loved. It is arguable that there is no better sensation in this world. The blissful happiness that accompanies it, the insecurities you have in yourself seem to vanish when you have someone in your life that loves you for being nothing more than yourself. It gives you courage to do what you never would have contemplated before.

But love is also torturous when it doesn't work out. When the person you care about most gives up on what you had. But pain is part of the lesson, the pain shouldn't be negative. It is the sweetest kind of pain, because what is causing you pain is the memories of what you once where. It is a way of helping you grieve and eventually, it should help you grow stronger. Then when the time is right you will seek love again, because the perks of love greatly out way the costs.

Unfortunately, Robbie was far too inebriated to voice this thought, it would have just come out as garbled form of pure nonsense. So instead he told her that crying didn't make her weak, it only confirmed something that Robbie had known for years.

That Jade West was human.

* * *

**Hey guys!**

**It's officially summer, the sun is shining and I am one happy bunny because of it! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and that you like the Robbie/Jade dynamic. I always pair the two together without initially meaning too! But I can't help it, I love writing them together!**

**I hope you like that I also incorporated Cat, will she show up soon ;) who knows? Me that's who, cause I already know where they find her! :D**

**Anyway much love everyone!**

**Sweeney7760**

**xx**


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